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The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched the fourth edition of USAID Project Profiles: Children Affected by HIV/AIDS 2005.

This document presents profiles of 114 projects (90 country-specific, 12 regional, and 12 global) funded by USAID.

Documentation on these activities promotes an exchange of ideas and information, leverages technical and financial resources, and encourages partnerships, collaboration and coordination among programmes supported by USAID, other US agencies, new partners and other donors.

Each of the 114 projects in the report aims to improve the lives of orphans and vulnerable children. Approaches to achieving this goal vary in both strategy and scale. The vast majority of projects work with communities to identify opportunities that strengthen existing resources without undermining local ownership. In many places, communities are already mobilised and have systems in place to identify, protect and provide basic necessities to the most vulnerable children. USAID supports the strengthening and monitoring of these existing activities.

The document can be viewed online, and print and CD-ROM copies can be ordered at: www.usaid.gov

The Living with HIV Partnership will this year be combining the international conference of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) with the international Home and Community Care Conference (HCC) and will take place as the LIVING2005 conference in Lima, Peru, from 9-13 October 2005.

LIVING2005 is a conference for policy and practice in working with and caring for HIV-positive people worldwide, led by civil society, and provides a unique platform for community-level leaders to share and develop.

The Living with HIV Partnership is a new consortium of organisations committed to the empowerment of people living with HIV/AIDS and their communities.

The Partnership consists of the Global Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+), the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), the International Council of AIDS Service Organisations (ICASO), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), UNAIDS, and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The combined conference will take place under the direction of the Peruvian National Coordination of PLWHA and its national partners, including the Peruvian Ministry of Health.

About the two conferences:

- International Conference of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) has been organised since 1986. It is the sole international event where the agenda is completely set by the PLWHA community worldwide, and has become a principal hothouse for policy thinking among HIV-positive leaders.

- The International HCC Conference focuses on long-neglected issues around community and home-based care. It has become a major venue for exchanging experience and expertise on HCC between people from the South and the North.

For more information on LIVING2005 and to register: www.living2005.org

The Graduate School, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, is offering a Proposal Writing Training Course in the field of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, from 10 -13 August 2005, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The course is designed to equip researchers with managerial skills to meet the competitive demands of proposal writing in response to local and international funding opportunities. Proposal writing skills are of particular interest to researchers who intend to establish research groups with the capacity for obtaining repeated grant funding.

A selection of one or more of the following topics will be covered in the final programme, depending on participants' needs and interests:

- Selecting a Research Topic - the essentials
- Principles of Proposal Development
- Perspectives of Successful Proposal Writing from Experienced Grant Writers
- Explaining the Difference Between a Proposal and a Project
- Sources of Grant Funding in the Field of HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria
- Panel Discussion with Funders and Reviewers of Proposals on 'What to Look for in "Good Proposals"'
- Reworking existing proposals to meet expectations of funding agencies
- Dealing with rejection in grant writing
- Formulation of Work Plans, Budgets and Logical Frameworks
- Monitoring and Evaluation Tools for Effective Project Implementation
- Leadership and Grantsmanship - Teamwork for Leading Research Groups in Collaborative and Large Inter-disciplinary research projects
- Networking with other participants from the SADC Region

Tuition fees to participate in the course are ZAR 2,500 (US $422). Participants are responsible for their travel costs to the venue in Johannesburg, as well as accommodation and board expenses and per diems. The organisers have secured a limited number of fellowships from the Belgium Technical Cooperation for eligible participants from the SADC region. Each application should include a clearly articulated motivation that indicates how the applicant would benefit from the training.

25 places are available and these will be allocated to eligible participants on a first-come-first-served basis.

Apply directly, preferably by fax or email, with a short description (1 page) of your current professional qualifications and motivation to participate, to:
Mrs Alison Mclean
Tel: +27-11-717-2075
Fax: +27-11-717-2119